Business and book website: wordwhisperer.net
Author of SETTLE FOR BEST: SATISFY THE WINNER YOU WERE BORN TO BE; SERVAL SON: SPOTS & STRIPES FOREVER; DeFOREST KELLEY: A HARVEST OF MEMORIES; FLOATING AROUND HOLLYWOOD; LET NO DAY DAWN THAT THE ANIMALS CANNOT SHARE(order at Amazon); and THE ENDURING LEGACY OF DeFOREST KELLEY(order at http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=382995)

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Actor #DeForestKelley passed away on June 11, 1999 but
his portrayal of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the original #StarTrek television
and motion picture series’ continues to impact the world in medical clinics, hospitals
and other places across the globe.

1.) The late actor DeForest Kelley would likely be one of the
last people on earth to suppose—or even
to imagine—that his legacy would extend more than a few years beyond his lifetime.
In fact, when asked by Dan Madsen how he wished to be remembered, DeForest—familiarly
known as “De” to his friends and legions of fans—responded that he wondered if he would be remembered at all.
“There’s nothing deader than a dead actor!” he told Madsen—which is generally
true. Fewer than ten greats and too-soon-gone icons are still widely remembered
and celebrated by the masses decades later: Charlie Chaplin, Laurence Olivier, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley.

So the self-effacing actor would likely be astounded (and
definitely touched and honored)to learn of the breadth and width of his
enduring legacy. For it’s a fact that countless Dr. McCoy “clones” are tending patients
in medical clinics and hospitals across the globe. Whether they’re doctors,
nurses, or medical technicians, many were inspired to enter the fields they’re
in because of Kelley’s portrayal of Dr. McCoy.

According to Kelley, Dr. McCoy was based on one of Kelley’s Encino
doctors… old-fashioned to the core, the way his doctor uncle had been….the kind
who, if he didn’t make house calls, would if he could. Kelley’s doctor brought
his dog to work with him. His practice was home-like, unhurried, and welcoming.
It isn’t hard to imagine that most of today’s McCoy clones emulate the same relational
concern and caring, with or without the canine companion.

2.) For the most part, De’s fans have continued to carry De’s
‘katra’ with them. Deeply concerned for the welfare of others (animal, human,
veterans, hospitalized children, and fans of all ages, abilities, aptitudes and
faiths) as De was, and as gently engaged in the world in the ways he
was—treating each encounter with another person (virtual or actual) as a sacred,
shared moment and an opportunity to interact and serve—De’s delegations of fans,
friends and family members are walking, talking blessings just waiting to
deploy their essences to make someone else’s day.

3.) De’s co-stars, producers, directors, writers and the
multitudes of technicians whose lives he enhanced during his long career in
motion pictures and television have always said what a thoughtful, helpful,
tuned-in individual he was with each of them. Patient, kind, and rarely upset
(and so respectful and kind when upset that Richard Arnold reported that it was
hard to tell how irritated he was unless you knew him very, very well), their
memories of working with De are decidedly delicious.I can’t help but believe that a measure of his
personality and approach to relationships rubbed off on each of them, and that
they are kinder, gentler individuals than they might otherwise be today. I know
for a fact that my long association with De had a profound effect on the way I engage
with others today.

All things considered, I don’t think I was off by more than a
millimeter when I shared at De’s memorial service the following sentiment: “In
my opinion, DeForest Kelley was the kind of man God had in mind when He created
Adam. If the world was more-heavily populated with DeForest Kelley types, it
would be the paradise we all wish it was.”

#

Kristine M. Smith is an author and freelance copywriter whose
decades’-long friendship with Carolyn and DeForest Kelley changed the
trajectory of her life. A greatly-enhanced edition of Kris’s 2001 Kelley title—renamed
DeForest
Kelley Up Close and Personal, A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him
Best— will debut at Amazon in 2016 during Star Trek’s 50th
anniversary. Email Kris at kris@wordwhisperer.net.
She will be available for virtual DeForest Kelley interviews throughout 2016.
To book her for local or national convention appearances, use the same email
address.

If you were impacted by the career, kindness, or concern of
DeForest Kelley, please reach out to Kris if you haven’t already. She is
compiling the second edition of her e-book, The Enduring Legacy of DeForest
Kelley: Actor, Healer, Friend and would love to consider including your
story in it.

About Me

A
Pacific Northwest native, Kristine M. Smith transformed her copywriting
business from a struggling start-up to a going concern in near-record time.
Prior to launching her own copywriting business, Kris served as a fledgling copywriter
for a local on-hold script production company, where she won Employee of the
Quarter the last two quarters she worked there.

Kris’s
freelance writing career was launched by actor DeForest Kelley more than forty
years ago. It was Kelley and his wife Carolyn who encouraged Kris to try
Hollywood on for size, which she did from 1989 to 2003. Kris served as Mr.
Kelley’s personal assistant and caregiver during the final months of his life
and presented heartfelt sentiments about her mentor at Paramount Studios'
memorial service for him in 1999. She has written two books about him: DeForest
Kelley: A Harvest of Memories and The Enduring Legacy of DeForest Kelley:
Actor, Healer, Friend. An enhanced version of Harvest with a new title and 50+ pages of riotous additional anecdotes will debut during Star Trek's 50th Anniversary in 2016.

In
Hollywood, Kris served as an administrative assistant and secretarial floater
to writers, producers and—later—information technology professionals at various
studios. Most of her Hollywood career was spent at Warner Bros. Studios in
Burbank where she served as an executive secretary for the VP of Software
Development and as a Hardware Lease Administrator. Kris’s most notable creative
endeavor at Warner Bros. was writing the copy for an intranet website to help
newly-arrived secretaries learn the ins and outs of serving on the WB campus in
record time. The website earned her a monetary reward and the coveted (don’t
laugh!) Carrot Award (Bugs Bunny runs da joint, ya know!); the accompanying Certification
of Appreciation was co-signed by the head of the Human Resources Department and
her boss.

The
author of seven books, Kris’s sixth title, Serval Son: Spots and Stripes Forever
(You are responsible for all you tame)—a cautionary true story about what it’s
like to own, and be owned by, a wild cat for seventeen years—reached the #2 and
#4 spots at Amazon in two niche categories when it debuted in September 2011.

Kris’s
newest title, Settle for Best: Satisfy the Winner You Were Born to Be, is a chapter-by-chapter
breakdown of the twenty commonalities of millionaire philanthropists as
discerned by Napoleon Hill in his seminal 20th century work, Think
and Grow Rich. Each chapter contains words of encouragement and
instructions to entrepreneurs and anyone else who wants to leave a business,
personal, or family legacy that will resonate for generations to come. Settle
for Best stood at #1 in the Motivational Self-Help category at Amazon for three
days when it debuted.